1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to computer programs and in particular to software for providing web browser access to a computer operating system desktop having icons displayed on a screen thereof.
2. Description of Related Art
Current web browsers have limited accesses to desktops. The best that can be done is to provide an index to the hard drives and allow viewing of the various files on the drive. The folders cannot be viewed nor the programs executed that exist within the folders.
In order to access operating system (OS) files, one has to know the file path and explicitly open the uniform resource locator (URL) address of file. Since such OS files do not contain HyperText Markup Language (HTML) tags indicating in code how part of the web page should be displayed, it would not be displayed correctly. While it would be possible for a computer client user to manually look up all of the paths and build a web page of all the files, it would be tedious and there would still be the problem of displaying the data without the proper HTML tags. Moreover, the web page would become out-of-date with any additions or deletions of the OS files.
There is also no easy way to invoke an OS executable application via a web browser. There is currently no way of automatically building a list of folders or executable desktop functions, selecting one of them, executing it with the correct parameters then displaying the application as a window within the web browser screen. Also, any stand alone executables found on the hard drives may not be executed directly from the existing-web browser index.
Bearing in mind the problems and deficiencies of the prior art, it is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a process and system for providing web browser access to a computer operating system desktop having icons displayed on a screen thereof.
It is another object of the present invention to provide such desktop access where the desktop icons provide links to executable OS programs of and information displayable by said operating system.
A further object of the invention is to provide desktop access via a web browser wherein optional parameters may be incorporated into the browser execution of such OS programs.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide such desktop access which may be used with any operating system.
Still other objects and advantages of the invention will in part be obvious and will in part be apparent from the specification.
The above and other objects and advantages, which will be apparent to one of skill in the art, are achieved in the present invention which is directed to, in a first aspect, a process, operable on a plurality of different computer operating systems, for providing web browser access to the operating system desktop having icons displayed on a screen thereof, wherein the desktop icons provide links to executable programs of and information displayable by the operating system. The process comprises first determining, for each icon to be accessed, an executable program linked to the icon, a data file used by the program, and the location of the program and data file. Then the process comprises constructing a web page of the accessed icons and linked programs and data file by assigning a HTML tag to the program and data file of each icon. The HTML tag may include an optional parameter for use by the executable program. The web page is viewable on a web browser such that the HTML tags are displayed on the web page and executable by the web browser to execute the programs on the operating system.
Preferably, the process includes the step of periodically repeating the steps to update the web page by determining any additional icons to be accessed and assigning a HTML tag to the program and data file of each additional icon.
The operating system desktop may contain a plurality of viewable icons, such that all of the icons and linked programs and data files are displayed by the HTML tags on the web page.
In some instances, the computer operating system desktop icons are linked to folders, which folders are linked to an executable program and a data file used by the program. The process then includes the step of constructing a web page of the accessed folders and linked programs and data file by assigning a HTML tag to the program and data file of each folder. The web page is viewable on a web browser such that the HTML tags are displayed on the web page and executable by the web browser to execute the programs on the operating system.
There may be included on the desktop one or more sub-folders, each of which is linked to an executable program and a data file used by the program. The process then includes the step of constructing one or more sub-folder web pages of the sub-folders and linked programs and data files by assigning a HTML tag to the program and data file of each sub-folder. The sub-folder web pages are viewable on a web browser such that the HTML tags are displayed on the sub-folder web pages and executable by the web browser to execute the programs on the operating system.
In another aspect, the present invention provides a program storage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform the aforementioned process for providing web browser access to a computer operating system desktop having icons displayed on a screen thereof, wherein the desktop icons provide links to executable programs of and information displayable by the operating system.
In a further aspect, the present invention provides a system for providing web browser access to a computer operating system desktop having icons displayed on a screen thereof, wherein the desktop icons provide links to executable programs of and information displayable by the operating system. The system comprises means for determining, for each icon to be accessed, an executable program linked to the icon, a data file used by the program, and the location of the program and data file. There is then provided means for constructing a web page of the accessed icons and linked programs and data file by assigning a HTML tag to the program and data file of each icon. The web page is viewable on a web browser such that the HTML tags are displayed on the web page and executable by the web browser to execute the programs on the operating system.